Which airline search engine do you use?

[kinkacruiser]

I realise there are a few of these, some better than others. I stumbled upon Skyscanner, which is faster to use and has direct links to the airlines. I'd be interested to know which one you use the most.

 

[Travel Guru]

Being a TA I only ever use my GDS, though I had cause to try out expert flyer last week when I was booking my own QF flights through a colleague in the US (convention fare) and wanted to keep an eye on what availability they were seeing vs what QF was making available to us here, very handy.

TG

 

[Andyc]

Matrix - ITA Software is great for finding fares but doesn't let you book.
Hipmunk: Better Flight Search and Hotel Booking is quite good
Lastly, Hotels, flights, car rental & cheap holidays on Expedia.ie isn't particularly good but has had some good deals lately.

 

[richie9x]

For work travel often I'll just leave it to my TA. But for personal travel i'll usually use the following.

Domestically I find Webjet.com.au useful as it has Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar and Tiger.
Internationally Matrix - ITA Software is good. But they don't always have all airlines. Also they sometimes don't return the cheapest sales fares
Internationally for LCCs I find Adioso.com best for finding the absolute cheapest fares.
Also flight availability search on flight stats can be very handy for find last minute availability on busy routes.

 

[cmon0005]

Speaking of airline booking engines. I was having trouble trying to find a site that will do my required routing. I tried Qantas site, Expedia, Webjet, Zuji .etc None could give me what I wanted.

I thought QF being part of Oneworld it would be easier to book through connection on other OW airlines on 1 ticket? apparantly not.

My routing requirements are: Mel-DXB using only QF and CX, can't even book that on QF site! I can book it separately MEL-HKG on QF then HKG-DXB on CX, but would prefer to have them on the same ticket..

Will QF interline my bags with CX even with seperate itineries??

Could a TA do this routing on one ticket for me?

 

[mannej]

Speaking of airline booking engines. I was having trouble trying to find a site that will do my required routing. I tried Qantas site, Expedia, Webjet, Zuji .etc None could give me what I wanted.

I thought QF being part of Oneworld it would be easier to book through connection on other OW airlines on 1 ticket? apparantly not.

My routing requirements are: Mel-DXB using only QF and CX, can't even book that on QF site! I can book it separately MEL-HKG on QF then HKG-DXB on CX, but would prefer to have them on the same ticket..

Will QF interline my bags with CX even with seperate itineries??

Could a TA do this routing on one ticket for me?

Being OW-OW yes QF will interline the bags.

However not knowing the connections, I do see the rationale behind having the flights on the same ticket for the protection.

 

[Travel Guru]

I doubt the fare would quote with half QF and half CX knowing what their fares are like but you never know. I suspect you'd need to book them on separate tkt numbers.

TG

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

I've generally found Expedia to get me decent flight deals. has worked well for me with flights in the USA / Canada over the lst few years.

I check out Orbitz as well.

Tried hipmunk a few times, but it seems to miss the odd special.

Will have to try out adioso a bit more.

 

[Taezar]

Matrix stopped be awesome after it was bought by google.
Ifly.net.au is/was pretty good, allowed you to booked different classes on same booking.
Skyscanner is good for finding some nice surprises.
Elove is amazeballs for Asian flights!
There's one beginning with Y that is good for business class fares. Can anyone remember what that one is called?

 

[A330]

I like using Skyscanner for internal Europe flights. It lets you exclude the out of town airports like BVA or SEN. It is less useful for domestic Australian flights, I usually just check QF or DJ directly.
I dislike Webjet because they charge such a high booking fee, and don't offer many airline choices.
Vayama is useful for US flights, less so for others.

 

[Globetrotter]

I like using Skyscanner for internal Europe flights. It lets you exclude the out of town airports like BVA or SEN. It is less useful for domestic Australian flights, I usually just check QF or DJ directly.
I dislike Webjet because they charge such a high booking fee, and don't offer many airline choices.
Vayama is useful for US flights, less so for others.

I too like using skyscanner but am I right in saying that it only compares Y class flights, not J or F?

 

[oliverd]

Skyscannw and Kayak on iPad.

But, I've found for more complex routings I need to go to individual airline web sites to get best pricing - and to maximize status credits on preferred airlines

For example, on a work trip to KL in a few months I want to come back via Lombok, so I can climb Indonesia's second-highest mountain. So, basic routing is SYD/KUL/LOP/SYD, although not all sectors can be done direct.
- Kayak: $1860 best price / total of 43 hours travel time (inc layovers)
- my booking: ~$2000 (includes Jetstar J to Singapore and VA fully flex DPS/DYD) and 23 hours travel time
(All the flights I selected and booked direct with airlines can be found in each of the booking sites - but obviously the system is not designed to mix and match across every possible combination of sectors.)

For simpler itineraries, I'll book direct with whatever airline I need status credits on, or where I can get an upgrade.

Hopefully not too off-topic, what I'm keen to test is Flightfox, which provides a human alternative to automated booking systems for complex itineraries:
Lauren takes flight with $800,000 backing - National News - National - General - Illawarra Mercury

 

[JohnK]

Considering I fly to Asia 3-4 times a year I don't spend that long looking for flights.

Generally I know exactly which carrier I want and go straight to the airline's website but occassionally I will use Expedia, Zuji to look for flights.

I also find AFF a good source for finding out about cheap flights on full service carriers.

Websites like Skyscanner are OK but only if I am looking for low cost flights and I am not going to do that for long haul anytime soon. Also my preference is to receive points/miles for my flights if I am not booking some type of award redemption.

 

[browski]

I think you need to divide the on-line sites into 2 categories - Itinerary Planning and Flight Booking.

Itinerary Planning: I find the best place to start is the wiki airport site for both the departure and arrival airports - then you can at least be aware of all the airline options and their immediate destinations - helps with 5th freedom flights.
Then there are a couple of "paid subscription" sites like OAG which are brilliant at giving every conceivable routing between 2 points - even including LCCs. ITA Matrix is still probably the best of the free ones.

Flight Booking: increasingly, I am booking through the individual airline's website (from the website's departure country version); but for some obscure routings (like BOM-RUH on SV) I use Expedia.
By booking through the airline's website there is just one caveat; beware of just searching point-to-point. For example, on CX it is often cheaper to fly MEL-HKG-KUL return than to fly MEL-HKG return. Similarly, on EK, it is nearly always cheaper to fly MEL-DXB-(insert city) return, than just MEL-DXB return.

 

[bobe]

I went on every available site a few months ago to Fly to Miami from Perth in PE and DIRECT flights came in the best with NO booking fee.